Posted by To mark St George’s Day the English Labour Network has published a new #90secondEngland round-up. In it we:
- celebrate our national day
- ask ‘who owns England?’
- ask why Labour is still reluctant to #SayEngland
- point you towards Ed Miliband’s ‘Full English’ podcast
- take a look at John Denham’s speech on England and Brexit.
You can also read a piece on LabourList, written by Joe Jervis, on how “Nation-building must be at the heart of Labour’s politics”:
“Brexit was and is a largely English phenomenon. It was England-outside-the-cities that delivered the Leave vote by a huge margin of 11%. Those who saw themselves as more English than British were more likely to vote Leave, while for those more British than English tended to back Remain. Working class voters backed Leave despite every arm of the establishment working against them.
“But these trends did not suddenly appear overnight, and if it was all about austerity then England would have voted for Ed Miliband in 2015, bacon sandwich fail or not.
“English discontent goes far deeper… the most staggering failure by liberal politicians has been the inability to ‘nation-build’. England currently has little sense of shared citizenship or purpose. The identity politics of the left has been the complete antithesis of building a progressive nation.”
Huffington Post columnist and English Labour Network Steering Committee member Rabbil Sikdar has written about how “The Left Will Only Be A Force In England When It Learns To Love The Country“:
“If we push for a space where being English is defined as love of English culture and the land’s institutions and values, rather than place of birth and ancestry, we can explore an England that is open, tolerant and inclusive.”
- Cities for London’s Ben Rogers has written for the New Statesman about how London must embrace it’s English identity: “To forge unity, rather than division, London needs to understand and celebrate its Englishness. The capital will have to start to think and act differently.”
- The Metro have published a piece from former English Defence League member Ivan Humble who now rejects the way the Far Right have appropriated the English flag and now wants to celebrate St George’s Day “for its true meaning”.
- Worthing West CLP have posted about why socialists and progressives should celebrate St George’s Day.
- Andrew Gywnne MP, Labour’s Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has posted on Facebook about the Labour, Englishness and the English Labour Network’s pamphlet for Labour members (which can be found here).
- Rob Francis has written on how Englishness “can be reconciled with social democracy,”
And finally, why not check out some top #StGeorgesDay tweets by Labour MPs and councillors: Jeremy Corbyn, David Lammy, Naushabah Khan, Vince Maple, Rosie Denham and Labour HQ.
englishlabournetwork.org.uk 